Dear Liza: I am the executor of my aunt’s estate in NJ. She left a number of payable-on-deaht (POD) accounts to me but her intention was that most of these funds/accounts be given to charity. I am trying to avoid paying estate and inheritance tax on them, because then the charities will get less. Is there a way I can redirect them to the charities before they come to me so as to avoid the taxes? When someone gives you something in a Will, or by beneficiary designation,you can always say, “No Thank You” and not accept the assets, provided you don’t make use of the asset first, and that you do this within 9 months of the death. This is called ‘disclaiming’ the assets. Legally, it’s as if you died first — the asset is then given to whomever is named as the next beneficiary. In that case, the gift is from the person who died, not from you. What you can’t do, however, is direct where the assets go next. So, if your aunt left a Will that said everything in her estate was to go to you, then to charity if you did not survive her, your disclaimer would direct those assets to the charity, via that Will. However, if your aunt’s Will did not specify charities as the next beneficiaries, or did not have a Will and simply left those payable-on-death accounts directly to you, and named no second beneficiary, the only way you can give those assets to charity would be to do it directly as a gift from you. If you disclaimed those assets, they would pass to your aunt’s surviving heirs under New Jersey’s law of intestate succession, not to charity. You can give $13,000 per year to any beneficiary free of the gift tax, or $26,000 if you are married and your spouse agrees to make the same gift.

About Liza Weiman Hanks

Liza is an attorney who specializes in estate planning for families of all ages. She is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. A graduate of Stanford Law School, she has also served as an instructor at the Santa Clara University Law School and practiced with the state of California and a prestigious Silicon Valley firm. Liza is also the author of Busy Family's Guide to Estate Planning: 10 Steps to Peace of Mind. She lives with her family in Campbell, California.